Pathways to Integration: Examining Changes in the Prevalence of Racially Integrated Neighborhoods

Publication

Pathways to Integration: Examining Changes in the Prevalence of Racially Integrated NeighborhoodsCityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research 14(3)33-53

Ellen, Ingrid, Katherine O’Regan and Keren Horn
01/01/2012

Few researchers have studied integrated neighborhoods, yet these neighborhoods offer an important window into broader patterns of segregation. We explore changes in racial integration in recent decades using decennial census tract data from 1990, 2000, and 2010. We begin by examining changes in the prevalence of racially integrated neighborhoods and find significant growth in the presence of integrated neighborhoods during this time period, with the share of metropolitan neighborhoods that are integrated increasing from just under 20 percent to just over 30 percent. We then shed light on the pathways through which these changes have occurred. We find both a small increase in the number of neighborhoods becoming integrated for the first time during this period and a more sizable increase in the share of integrated neighborhoods that remained integrated. Finally, we offer insights about which neighborhoods become integrated in the first place and which remain stably integrated over time.